PITTSBURG – The Gorillas will host Central Missouri, Ferris State and Arkansas-Fort Smith in the Pittsburg State Classic on Friday and Saturday (November 18 and 19). Arkansas-Fort Smith and Central Missouri kick off the tournament at 5:30 p.m. on Friday, followed by the Gorillas vs. Ferris State. Saturday Central Missouri takes on Ferris State at 1 p.m., while Pitt State faces Arkansas-Fort Smith at 3 p.m.

Scouting Ferris State

Ferris State is still seeking their first win of the season. The Bulldogs fell in a heartbreaker to No. 9 Bellarmine in overtime, then handed Ursuline a 30-point victory last weekend in their own Bulldog Classic. However, the Bulldogs are only allowing opponents .328 from long range as they're shooting .357.

Rachel McInerney is the team's top scorer. She tabbed a double-double (33 points, 11 rebounds) against No. 9 Bellarmine last weekend and is scoring 17.5 points per game, which is fifth in the GLIAC conference. Leah Humes pitches in 15.5 ppg and 5.5 rebounds per game and Riley Blair comes off the bench with 8.5 ppg. Alexis Bush sits atop the conference with 7.0 assists per game.

Scouting Arkansas-Fort Smith

Arkansas-Fort Smith is a perfect 2-0 so far this season. The team swept a pair against RMAC foes Colorado Mines and Colorado Christian last weekend at the RMAC/Heartland Conference Challenge in Lakewood, Colo.  The Lions are shooting .463 from the field, allowing the teams to just .400, and they're tabbing 77.5 points per game as a team, a conference-high.

Three players are already scoring in double digits season for the Lions: Zhanesha Dickerson (17.0 ppg), Jazmine Spears (16.0 ppg) and Tayla Taylor (12.0 ppg). Dickerson is 4-9 (.444) from behind the arc and Spears is 12-21 (.571) from the paint. Taylor's 12.0 rpg tops the Heartland conference and ties at 17th in the nation. Olivia Hanson and Micayla Haynes contribute 8.5 ppg apiece.

Arkansas Fort Smith has a bit of a Pitt State connection. Their head coach, Elena Lovato was a graduate assistant for Coach Lord in his first season at Pitt State.

Scouting Pittsburg State

The Gorillas earned two convincing wins over Northern Sun opponents last weekend in the MIAA/NSIC Challenge. In the first outing of the season, Pitt State earned a 70-38 win over Mary and got a 73-53 victory over Concordia-St. Paul the following day.

Mikaela Burgess started the season where she left off last season, as the Gorillas leading scorer with 15.0 ppg. She hit six threes over the two games and also dished out eight assists. Elena Flott is the Gorilla's second leading scorer with 12.0 ppg and the second leading rebounder with 6.5 rpg. Madison Northcutt led the team in rebounds with 7.0 rpg. Hadyn Herlocker led the team with eight steals, including six against Mary. She also led in assists with 12. Paige Lungwitz added 8.0 points and 5.5 rebounds per game. Shelby Lopez came off the bench against Mary to score 11 points.

Pitt State averaged 71.5 ppg, 43.0 rpg and 17.5 apg over its first two games.The Gorillas made 43 percent of its shots overall and 32 percent from the free throw line. 

Pitt State vs. Ferris State

This will be the first meeting between the Gorillas and Ferris State

Pitt State vs. Arkansas-Fort Smith

This will be the fourth meeting between the Gorillas and Arkansas Fort-Smith. The two teams met twice in the 2009-10 season, splitting games, with each team winning on its home court. In the 2010-11 season the Gorillas traveled to Fort Smith, where the Lions earned a 63-57 win. Pitt State  has the largest win in the series, a 86-76 win on November 24, 2009.

Up Next

The Gorillas will travel alongside the men's team for the Puerto Rico Thanksgiving Challenge in San Juan on November 23-25. The team will take on Pontifical Catholic at 11 a.m. on Wednesday (Nov. 23) to open the tournament. Thanksigivng Day will bring on West Alabama at 9 a.m. INstead of Black Friday shopping, the Gorillas will have Puerto Rico-Rio Piedras at 1 p.m. There will not be live stats for the game, but Eddie Lomshek will be traveling along with the teams and all games will be aired on KKOW AM 860 and kkowradio.com. Fans can also follow along with the trip through Twitter and Instagram. 

Records Check

Its time to start tracking some Gorillas in the record books. After only two games, junior Mikaela Burgess is already moving up the all-time threes list. She just passed Morgan Westhoff to move into fourth with 162 career threes and needs only five more to pass Alexa Bordewick (166) for third. Jenni Miller holds the career record with 364. 

Hadyn Herlocker finished last season second on the single season assists list with 156, almost double from her previous two seasons combined. With 12 assists in the first two games, Herlocker now  has 257 assists for her career, which is ninth on the all-time list. She needs nine more to move to eighth and 11 to seventh. Current assistant coach Amanda Davied holds the career assists record with 553. 

The Road to 1000

Mikaela Burgess is not only climbing up the career-three-point list, but also working to her career 1,000 points mark. Burgess currently has 902 points, 283 her freshman year and 589 last season. Her 589 points last season were third only to Lizzy Jeronimus and Leslie Dudley, the two top scorers (men or women) in Pitt State history. When Burgess reaches her 1000th point, she will be the 20th player in school history to score 1000 or more. 

Program Milestones

Pitt State's 70-38 win over Mary was the 600th win in program history. The Gorillas now have a 601-479 (.556) all-time record. The Gorillas are 326-177 at home, 199-257 on the road and 68-42 at neutral sites. Head Coach Lane Lord is now just 15 wins from his 200th win at Pitt State.